Duty Is an Annoying Mistress
by VulkansNodosaurus
Summary: Hafrav had twelve skulls on his armor, for the twelve Marines he killed; but death is not the end for a follower of Nurgle. Follows 'Should be Expected'. Written July 2012.


Being headless was more uncomfortable than Uol had imagined.

After Hafrav had torn off his skull for the third time, the Grandfather had decided to stop granting Uol new heads. The Death Guard was not upset by this - Nurgle knew better than him whether he needed a head or not, and Uol was in any case grateful for having been saved by his god. Still, the current arrangement had its downsides, mostly in that he was unable to talk. Or eat, for that matter, though he wasn't yet hungry. Albeit he did have intact hands- perhaps he could stuff something into his esophagus.

But the beautiful taste would be gone. The amazing, sublime taste of M39 Necromundan cafeteria food had disappeared forever. A wave of despair swept over Uol's psyche: he was no longer able to taste! Smell, hearing, and eyes had been regrown in various unexpected locations only at Nurgle's infinite mercy. He had failed, they had all failed, and this was but a fraction of the price.

Self-loathing intermixed with despair as Uol considered that his failure was yet another gross violation of his duty to his patron. They fused together completely as the remnants of Uol's vocal cords gave off an impotent roar, directed not at the traitorous Hafrav (who was still piloting the transport) but inwards at himself.

"Your fury is good," bashed Hafrav, misunderstanding Uol's point entirely, "but you will not be accepted into Khorne's army! You're too weak. Weak rhymes with orange. Heh." Weak did, indeed, rhyme with orange in the language of Lower Barbarus- a language the Death Guard learned on induction, but were forbidden to use, which wasn't stopping Ancient Hafrav from breaking into Lower Barbian poetry. "Alerka bofro ster a garsa e o/ Tas exaol onne a tpa-ake brntko!"

That meant, literally, "The tyrant smokes trash thrown away by little boys/ You are a perfect example of that trash- so be smoked!" It was clear that the Dreadnought was a heretic.

Uol's chains fell away.

It was utterly unexpected both by Uol and by Hafrav. Perhaps his despair had strengthened the armor acids?

Whatever the reason, it was a mercy to one who didn't deserve it, and with a mental note to try and deserve any future mercy Uol marched at Hafrav, taking his rust-sword out of its scabbard. The Dreadnought was fast, though- far faster than Uol had ever seen him move-and a single screeching strike of Hafrav's left power claw skewered the eye in Uol's chest. His heel-eyes were still functional, but they saw only the ceramite floor.

Blinded, Uol slipped and toppled, grasping Hafrav's metallic shell on the way down. He tried to yell a curse at the traitor, but only a bubbly gurgle escaped his… respiratory organs. Still, he grappled, moving slowly but methodically in his search for some exposed cables- Uol was no Techmarine, but surely cutting up wires would do _something_ to the heretic?

Finally finding a cluster, Uol swung his blade, neatly severing both the wires and his right middle finger in two.

"NO!" Hafrav screamed.

Uol grinned- he had, miraculously, done a small portion of his duty.

The Dreadnought grabbed Uol's left leg with his right power claw, then pulled. The Plague Marine's grip slipped, and Uol (minus one leg) crashed onto the floor. He observed the skirmish's outcome both with his body and with his detached left leg, which was dangling from Hafrav's fly attractor.

Hafrav ran away from the bridge, literally jumping during strides. Large craters were left in his trail. His armored shell was unpainted, except by abundant splotches of blood- Uol's blood. Two massive cannons of unknown provenance towered above his sarcophagus, and he had torn off his arm-cannon in favor of another power claw whose source, again, Uol had no idea of (had Hafrav raided an Iron Warriors armory while he had been unconscious?).

Meanwhile, a crimson readout on the ship computer counted down. Uol closed his eyes, curled up (as well as he could with only one leg and no head) and decided to fall to sleep.

Wait. A crimson readout?

Slowly (speed was of Tzeentch) and calmly, Uol sat up and recognized something else about Hafrav's receding form.

There were no cut cables on it.

There were, however, cut cables on the ship control panel.

In the "do not touch" region that Necler had said could trigger the ship's self-destruct.

_Oops._

Using his arms to roll, Uol moved toward the bridge exit. No matter how big he was, Hafrav would only take one escape pod- the ship had three. But he wasn't strong enough- he wouldn't make it in time!

"Hey there."

Uol noticed that a couch, with two Nurglings lounging on it, had mysteriously materialized.

"You summoned us, eh? Well, I'm Rok'ah and my overfriendly friend here is Aprexaz. Make it quick."

Aprexaz had by this time fallen asleep.

Reghaf had, indeed, summoned daemons before the raid that had revealed Hafrav's corruption - Uol had assumed the ritual had failed, but perhaps the Nurglings were just late. In any case, after Uol gurgled for several minutes, Rok'ah established a telepathic link.

"That Dreadnought over there-" Uol pointed at Hafrav, who was almost gone from sight- "has betrayed the Legion and the Grandfather. Help me… eh… kill him."

Rok'ah nodded and began shaking Aprexaz awake, but quickly despaired of ever succeeding. "Look," he eventually said to Uol, "we're no match for him anyways. And I don't like getting crushed by power claws. Basically, I'm leaving. Bye."

Three things happened at this moment. Firstly, Hafrav - safe in the escape pod by now - finally succeeded in making Uol lose all feeling in his leg. Secondly, the daemonic sofa began to fade out, and Uol instinctively grabbed onto it. Thirdly, the readout reached zero, and the transport began to explode.

By the time the shockwave reached the bridge, though, Uol was in the Warp.

It was -

* * *

><p>It crawled out of the hole it had created confused. Where was it? <em>What<em> was it?

If anyone had seen it, they would have answered that it was a monstrosity, a mix of human, mutant, and daemon flesh and armor. But fortunately, no one saw it - not yet.

Memories crept back, but they made no sense to it. Still, as it clambered towards the nearest city, a word crept out of its subconscious.

"Nurgle!" Uol screamed. "Nuuuuurgle!"


End file.
